Supported host platforms

Build targets

Libvirt drivers aim to support building and executing on multiple
host OS platforms. This document outlines which platforms are the
major build targets. These platforms are used as the basis for deciding
upon the minimum required versions of 3rd party software libvirt depends
on. If a platform is not listed here, it does not imply that libvirt
won't work. If an unlisted platform has comparable software versions
to a listed platform, there is every expectation that it will work.
Bug reports are welcome for problems encountered on unlisted platforms
unless they are clearly older vintage than what is described here.

Note that when considering software versions shipped in distros as
support targets, libvirt considers only the version number, and assumes
the features in that distro match the upstream release with the same
version. In other words, if a distro backports extra features to the
software in their distro, libvirt upstream code will not add explicit
support for those backports, unless the feature is auto-detectable in
a manner that works for the upstream releases too.

The Repology site is a useful resource to identify currently shipped
versions of software in various operating systems, though it does not
cover all distros listed below.

Linux OS

For distributions with frequent, short-lifetime releases, the project
will aim to support all versions that are not end of life by their
respective vendors. For the purposes of identifying supported software
versions, the project will look at Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE distros.
Other short-lifetime distros will be assumed to ship similar software
versions.

For distributions with long-lifetime releases, the project will aim to
support the most recent major version at all times. Support for the
previous major version will be dropped 2 years after the new major
version is released. For the purposes of identifying supported software
versions, the project will look at RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu LTS, and SLES
distros. Other long-lifetime distros will be assumed to ship similar
software versions.

Windows

The project supports building with current versions of the MinGW
toolchain, hosted on Linux.

macOS

The project supports building with the current version of macOS,
with the current homebrew package set available.

FreeBSD

The project aims to support the most recent major version
at all times. Support for the previous major version will
be dropped 2 years after the new major version is released.

Virtualization platforms

For hypervisor drivers which execute
locally (QEMU, LXC, VZ, libxl, etc), the set of supported operating
system platforms listed above will inform choices as to the minimum
required versions of 3rd party libraries and hypervisor management
APIs.

If a hypervisor is not commonly shipped directly by any distro
listed above, (VMware ESX, HyperV, VZ), the project aims to
support versions up to 5 years, or until the vendor discontinues
support, whichever comes first.